1. Field of the Invention
The invention relates to surgical devices and in particular to devices for use in knee reconstructive surgery that enables a surgeon to form a tunnel through the side of a patient's knee to exactly intersect an anterior or posterior cruciate ligament tunnel that has been formed through the knee.
2. Prior Art
In cruciate ligament repair and replacement surgery it is common to drill tibial and femoral tunnel sections as the ligament tunnel through the respective femoral and tibial points of ligament origin. Such tunnels can be formed as shown in patents and a new patent application, respectively, of the present inventors, entitled, "Ligament Attachment Method and Apparatus", U.S. Pat. No. 4,772,286; and "Apparatus and Procedure for Verifying Isometric Ligament Positioning". The ligament tunnel is to receive a biologic or prosthetic ligament installed therein, the installed ligament to be maintained in a tension state across the intra articular knee joint during healing. The present invention in a drill guide is arranged to reference a straight "K" wire to receive the present invention fitted thereover.
The present invention in a drill guide is for use for guiding the drilling of a hole into the side of the femur or tibia so as to intersect the cruciate ligament tunnel. So prepared, a coupling device, such as a screw can be turned into the side of a ligament end coupling that has been turned into a tapped end of the prepared ligament tunnel section, or into the ligament itself, providing an increased pull out strength to that ligament.
A number of drill guide arrangements have heretofore been developed for forming cruciate ligament tunnels. For example, patents to Sapeya, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,739,751; Cho, U.S. Pat. No. 4,257,411; Hourahane, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,535,768; Hourahane, U.S. Pat. No. 4,672,957; and a United Kingdom Patent to Lovell, et al., No. 2,078,528, all show arrangements for drilling cruciate ligament tunnel sections through the intra articular joint from a point on the tibial or femoral cortex to intersect the end of a guide that is positioned on a cruciate ligament point of origin. Also, patents to Seedholm, et al., U.S. Pat. No. 4,668,233, and a European Patent Application 0126529, show a prosthetic ligament and drill guide for preparing tibial and femoral tunnel sections.
None of which above-cited references, however, are structurally like the drill guide of the present invention, and, further, none provide for drilling a right angle tunnel so as to exactly intersect a tibial or femoral cruciate ligament tunnel section as does the present invention.